International students have been attending École polytechnique since 1798Developing international relations has long been a core strategy of École polytechnique, whose network of prestigious partner universities around the world is ever-expanding. The first international students started attending its classes in 1798.The excellence of l’X, as the establishment is commonly called, combined with its strong network of partners, attracts world-class students and researchers to its three levels of academic programs – Ingénieur Polytechnicien, Master’s, and PhD – and to the laboratories in its Research Center.Every year, over 150 Polytechnicians are accepted into the best universities in the United States, including Stanford, Berkeley, CalTech, Princeton, MIT, Columbia, and Harvard, and in Europe with Cambridge, Oxford, Imperial College, Technische Universität München, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, and KTH in Stockholm.

Student mobility promoted in emerging countries with a strong French industrial presenceNearly 85% of École polytechnique students set out each year to undergo an internship or a portion of their degree-seeking studies abroad. Thus, l’X prepares students to confront major challenges on the international stage by offering them every possible opportunity to acquire international experience. While many students receive a warm welcome at the best American and English universities, they are also encouraged to spend part of their academic careers in key developing countries, such as Brazil, China, Russia, and India. Understanding these rapidly developing countries, all with a strong French industrial presence, is a major asset to their future careers. An increasing number of Polytechnicians are drawn to these locations each year for their studies or for internships.

Solid partnerships with major world-class establishmentsÉcole polytechnique’s excellence is founded upon the renown of the many famous scientists and mathematicians who have studied or taught there, such as Joseph Fourier, André-Marie Ampère, Augustin Cauchy, Henri Poincaré and Benoît Mandelbrot. This excellence is also based on the quality of the École polytechnique Research Center, as well as its international visibility thanks to strong partnerships with the best universities worldwide, including:

Shanghai Jiao Tong UniversityÉcole polytechnique (in partnership with three other ParisTech schools: Telecom, Mines and ENSTA) has opened an engineering program in China with Shanghai Jiao Tong University : SJTU-ParisTech Engineering Institute of Technology (SPEIT). This exceptional program is based on a 6-year curriculum, primarily taught in French with certain courses available in English and in Chinese. The program enables 100 Chinese students per year to earn an engineering degree à la française. This university, supported by major French manufacturers with presence in China such as PSA, SAFRAN, and AXA Private Equity, was established in September 2012. It was then officially inaugurated by President François Hollande in May 2013.

In addition, double-degree accords have been signed with Shanghai Jiao Tong University for certain Masters’s programs (Mechanics, Acoustics, Naval Engineering) and for doctoral programs sponsored by École polytechnique industrial partners.This project aims to train high-level young engineers: francophiles and French speakers in China and sinophiles and Chinese speakers in France. Through the course of their professional careers in major French and Chinese companies, these students are likely to become the driving force of our bilateral cooperation.

Columbia University Alliance NetworkÉcole polytechnique, along with Science Po Paris and Paris-Sorbonne University, has partnered with Columbia University (NY) via the Alliance Program. The goal of this groundbreaking new program is to inspire and support new initiatives for cooperation in academics and research. Most notably, it enables the regular exchange of researchers and students between the member establishments. It also paved the way for the creation of multidisciplinary international research teams and joint academic programs. Alliance also provides financial aid to encourage international exchanges, such as the Doctoral Mobility Grant, for PhD students at member universities.Thanks to a double-degree accord which was signed between École Polytechnique and Columbia, researchers from l’X are able to continue their projects in the United States. Likewise, Columbia researchers are welcomed to the labs of École polytechnique. The principle of awarding Master’s degrees and PhDs has been preserved through this framework agreement.The Alliance Program is the only one of its type to date in the United States, serving as a hub for scientific fields as diverse as high-energy physics, the challenges posed by renewable energies, and the societal impacts of climate change

Caltech In March 2013, École polytechnique signed a historic double-degree accord with the California Institute of Technology (CalTech). This accord, which enables students to earn a dual Master’s-level degree in Aeronautics from both establishments, is the first and only of its kind that the prestigious American institute has signed with a foreign establishment to date. CalTech’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), one of the world’s top research centers in aeronautics, works closely with the Solid and Fluid Mechanics Laboratory of École polytechnique. This accord will also make possible the development of joint research programs.

These examples of partnerships, along with others in Europe, Brazil, and Russia, demonstrate the international policy of École Polytechnique: Concentrating on solid, exceptional partnerships, involving collaborations with the industrial sphere, and reinforcing École polytechnique’s place in the very competitive world of exceptional academics.L’X has established over 200 partnership agreements with 140 establishments from all over the world to enable the most talented students to enroll in certain programs or courses for academic exchanges, and to undergo research internships in the prestigious École polytechnique Research Center. These accords also facilitate student mobility at l’X, providing a wide selection of destinations for École polytechnique students to visit.

Paris-Saclay University enhances the attractiveness of its members on the international stage through:- the dynamic created by synergy between its member establishments- its size comparable to other major universities worldwide